


Team Play

by twilight_shades



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Misunderstandings, Shadowing, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 11:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13763175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilight_shades/pseuds/twilight_shades
Summary: Arthur gets a new team.  Eames has some issues.  Includes characters from Easy A, Eureka, The Good Wife, and White Collar.





	Team Play

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Do not own. Complete fiction.

Arthur is in demand. Really high demand. He helped pull off an inception, even if nobody outside their little group knows how easily it could have gone wrong at so many different points. Actually, Arthur is pretty sure nobody else _inside_ the group truly gets how many different ways it could have gone catastrophically bad. It’s Arthur’s job to anticipate things, to plan for possible deviations, to work through scenarios to their likely conclusions, so once he became conscious of _all_ of the variables in play, he’d let his mind tick through the possibilities. The likeliest outcomes had ended with one or more of them dead or in limbo forever. Arthur is very much aware of how lucky they’d all been.

He’s getting all kinds of offers. He’d taken a couple and done very well, except for the fact that he’d nearly driven himself to exhaustion. He just felt like he had to keep on top of everything and he had nobody with him to watch his back. The list of people he trusts is short (and damn Cobb for taking himself off it and for taking the potential of Yusuf off too – it would have been really nice to have a chemist he could trust). But Ariadne is finishing up her education, so she’s out. Saito, though Arthur is still a little shocked that he put him on the list, is busy doing whatever it is powerful and wealthy businessmen do to make themselves more powerful and wealthy, so he’s out. And Eames, well, Eames seems to be actively avoiding Arthur, only taking on jobs that have someone else already in the position Arthur would have.

So Arthur does what he maybe should have done years ago and makes his own team from scratch. He goes looking for people not already in the field, but ones who seem aware of possibilities. He finds Olive, a newly graduated biochemist, toiling away at a research lab. He intends to reel her in slowly, but she’s possibly even more enthusiastic than Ariadne and she doesn’t really go slow, ever. She’s happily experimenting with different Somnacin compounds within a few weeks. Deacon is quite possibly one of the smartest men Arthur has ever met. He says he’s an engineer, but Arthur is pretty sure he’s much more than that. He’s not much fazed by dreamsharing and is very good at realistic designs that suddenly go surrealistic, but he’s excellent at building truly fantastical engineering feats inside dreams. Though Kalinda would make an outstanding point woman, she fits well as the face of the team and soon has a network in place that skillfully ferrets out both jobs and information. Her pragmatism and ruthlessness work well Arthur’s. The forger is last. When Arthur realizes why he left it until last, he berates himself. Eames has made himself very clear with his silence and avoidance. So, Arthur goes looking and who he finds is surprising. Neal actually has quite the legend attached to him. And, apparently it’s earned. The man can be somebody else without even forging and when he does forge, it’s perfect. Plus, he’s a brilliant thief, whether in a dream or not.

They do a few small jobs to start, work the kinks out. Three of them go well, really well, one has a few hiccups, but works out in the end, and one is almost a disaster. Arthur is… not as unhappy as he could have been. With well planned out jobs (and ones where he has all the necessary information), big problems don’t happen often, but they do happen and when they do, that can tell a person a lot about the individuals in the situation and how they work as a team. Arthur learns that he has put together a very competent team whose members look out for another. It only costs him a few pints of blood, a few days in a coma, and a few new scars. Since he’s not dead or in jail, his team is okay and they had gotten him to safe hospital under a clean alias, plus they’re all there keeping a low profile watch on him, he’s tempted to call this one a win (not in earshot of any of the others as they would likely berate him or look at him sadly were he to express this). It’s a little hard for him to understand, but they seemed really concerned about his injuries and seemed to see the job as a complete failure even though they got the information they had been looking for.

It’s been so long since his well-being was a high priority to anyone else. Cobb, back when he was Dom, had cared. He actually probably still does, but any care for Arthur was greatly overwhelmed by everything with Mal and the kids. Mal had, at some point, but she had actually been starting to behave a little erratically even before she and Dom went so deep. When Cobb had told Arthur about what had happened, it had been very easy for Arthur to believe that Mal would do that.

It seems though, that Arthur’s team is as determined to keep him safe as he is determined to keep them safe. Someone sticks pretty close to him during the jobs and now there’s many more check-ins with each team member. It’s a little frustrating, but it mostly feels… nice. It’s been a while since nice was part of Arthur’s life. 

~~~

Arthur idly watches from across the room as Kalinda and Deacon attempt to drink each other under the table as Olive cheers them both on. They aren’t on a job, nor are they planning one. Instead, his team is on vacation, together. And Arthur, though he never would have predicted this a year ago, is enjoying himself.

Neal sits down across from him in the booth. Neal smiles at him and Arthur smiles back, not quite as freely, but just as warmly. Neal’s an interesting person, so sweet-natured, even while he can be ruthless when necessary. Neal leans in a little and says, “So, Eames…?”

Arthur freezes for a moment, taken completely off-guard. “Eames?” he asks carefully.

“I looked into you before I joined the team.”

Arthur shrugs. He’d figured, it’s only prudent, after all. But he gives Neal an inquiring look because he has no idea why he’s bringing it up now.

“I’m pretty sure he’s been following me.”

Arthur has no idea what to do with that. “Here?” he asks a little blankly.

Neal nods. “And on the last job, I think. He’s pretty good.”

“Yes, he is. I’m not sure why he would be following you.”

“Really? I would guess he’s here to check on you and that he thought you would catch him if he followed you.”

Arthur thinks it’s more likely that Eames is here to check out his competition, even if he’s never been lacking confidence about his skills before. “I’ll talk to him.”

“No, no it’s fine, I’m kind of enjoying it, I’d actually like to see what, if anything, he’ll do next. Also, I can practice my evasion skills on him,” Neal says, his smile going a little mischievous. Neal gets up and heads around behind Arthur. He pauses, reaches down and squeezes Arthur’s shoulder and says quietly, “I just thought you should know.” And then Neal goes over to where Kalinda, Deacon, and Olive are.

~~~

As Arthur’s getting ready for bed in his hotel room, there’s a tap at the door. It’s Neal. Arthur lets him in. Neal’s not quite ready for bed himself, but he’s in much more casual attire than he usually allows himself to be seen in public in, even if only for a few yards down the hall of a hotel.

Neal looks at him and says, “I’m sorry, I can go. I just had a question about dreamsharing and bleed over into reality that my mind just wouldn’t let go, but I can ask tomorrow.”

Arthur studies him, pretty sure Neal has another agenda here. Arthur decides he’s willing to indulge Neal, for now. “It’s all right, I’m not very tired yet, I was just going to read until I felt sleepy.”

Neal brightens. “Great.”

Neal keeps him talking for nearly forty minutes. Arthur doesn’t mind, the discussion is interesting, even it’s a cover for whatever Neal is up to.

“Thank you, Arthur,” Neal says as he gets up.

Arthur gets up too and walks him to the door. “You’re welcome, Neal.”

“Sweet dreams, Arthur,” Neal says as he opens the door.

Arthur blinks and then says, “You, too.”

Neal slips out and as the door closes, Arthur sees him reach up and do something to his hair. Arthur turns the bolt and puts on the chain, wondering what that had been about.

~~~

Neal sticks very closely to Arthur the next day, sitting next to him, fetching him things, getting him involved in conversations. Neal also touches him a lot. Neal is a very expressive person and sometimes seems a little touch-starved, but Arthur is pretty sure that’s not what’s driving this. When he catches Eames in a reflection, he’s absolutely sure. Arthur’s not entirely sure why Neal’s playing this game, but he’s willing to let it play out, for now.

~~~

There’s something, some shift in the air, some whisper of a noise, something that wake Arthur with the knowledge that someone’s in his room. He reaches for the gun under his pillow and tenses, getting ready to move, waiting for a direction to aim. There it is, near the right corner of the foot of the bed. He hesitates, though, because that sound had seemed deliberate to him and if it’s Neal, he doesn’t want to draw on him.

“Not even going to try?” comes a familiar voice.

Arthur retracts his hand from the gun and sits up. He turns on the bedside lamp, blinking in the light. “Mr. Eames.”

“Expecting someone else?” 

“No.”

“Didn’t think I might be Caffrey?” Eames asks mildly, though his eyes look intense.

Arthur shrugs.

“That why you didn’t draw? Because Caffrey doesn’t like guns?”

Arthur studies Eames. “Researching my team?”

This time, Eames shrugs.

“Eames, why are you here? Why are you following Neal? Why are you looking into him? What are you doing breaking into my hotel room?”

“He’s very good. A good thief, a good forger.”

That doesn’t answer any of Arthur’s questions, but it’s true. “Yes, he is.”

Eames clenches his jaw. “He even likes suits.”

Arthur smiles fondly. “Yes.”

“You look good together,” Eames says, with a strange sort of smile that almost looks like a grimace. “I hope you’ll be happy together,” he grinds out.

Arthur raises his eyebrows. “You broke into my hotel room… to wish me well?”

Eames’ mouth works for a moment. “Yes,” he bites out.

“Hmm. Neal is very good. He is amazing at reading people. I can usually do a good surface read, figure what someone is going to do in the moment and rely on research for the rest, but he figures out motivations and deeper feelings just by looking. I bet he would have seen what was going on with Mal. He would have known how desperate Cobb had gotten. He’s apparently figured you out.”

Eames’ expression had steadily been getting more dour as Arthur went on, but goes blank with surprise at the last statement. “Me?”

“I wondered what he was up to. I guess he wanted you to actually talk to me. The question is, why did he think that pretending to be sleeping with me would work?” 

Eames looks completely taken aback. “What?”

“No, I suppose, the real question is, why _did that_ work?”

Eames looks a little hunted, but doesn’t say anything.

“When I realized you were avoiding me, I thought you didn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

“What? No! No. Arthur, I just needed some… distance. Some time.”

“Why? And why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because you would have asked why. And I didn’t want to explain, that would have been excruciating. I just thought that I could take some time until it wasn’t so hard to be around you and then I could come back.”

Arthur thinks he is beginning to have an inkling what is going on with Eames, but he can’t take it in. It’s too confusing. “You… have feelings for me?” It comes out sounding really skeptical.

“Yes. And you haven’t any for me. I thought I had come to terms with that, but I was wrong and working with you brought all of that to the fore.”

“Is that why you were so passive aggressive with me?”

Eames looks a little embarrassed. “Possibly.”

“Against my better judgment, I do like you, Eames,” Arthur says.

It’s Eames’ turn to sound skeptical, “You do?”

“But you never seemed like a good prospect, so I thought it best to act professionally. And I am very good at compartmentalizing.”

“Not a good prospect?” Eames says, his voice going high in affront.

“What precisely about your behavior towards me was supposed to make me think otherwise?”

Eames opens his mouth, pauses, and then closes his mouth. He smiles ruefully at Arthur. “All part of my charm?”

Arthur snorts.

“So, where does this leave us now?” Eames asks.

“Well, you will leave this room so I can get back to sleep and tomorrow, at noon, you can meet my team for lunch and introduce yourself. You will not be awful to Neal. Then you will leave.”

“And that’s it?” Eames asks, looking resigned.

“Do you think you deserve a chance?”

“Probably not. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ask for one.”

Arthur considers this. “I wouldn’t be opposed to a date, some time.”

Eames perks up. “A date? Really?”

“Yes, really. But I’m here with my team right now.”

“Very well, Arthur. I will meet your team tomorrow and then I will leave. But I will hold you to that date and I will call you.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow.

“I haven’t been the best about keeping in touch, but that was for a reason that no longer applies. I _will_ call you.”

Arthur inclines his head.

“And if I can’t reach you, I will track you down.”

Arthur smiles sharply at Eames. “It might be fun to lead you on a merry chase.”

Eames sighs. “Trust me, Arthur, I’ve chased after you for a very long time, even if most of it was in my own head.”

Arthur lets his expression soften into something almost fond. “Okay, Eames. Call me.”

Eames smiles. “I will.”

Arthur believes him.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you find any typos or if the format is messed up or if you think I need any tags.


End file.
